Bypolls for Rajinder Nagar on June 23: BJP heavyweights in fray, AAP hopes to hold on

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In the fray, sources said, are four heavyweights from the BJP — national spokesperson R P Singh, state president Adesh Gupta, former state general secretary Rajesh Bhatia, and current vice-president of Delhi BJP Rajan Tewari. Singh had won the seat in 2013 but lost two consecutive elections in 2015 and 2020.

AAP leader Durgesh Pathak campaigning in Rajinder Nagar.

From the AAP, Durgesh Pathak has been appointed as the election in-charge of Rajinder Nagar assembly constituency. He is likely to be given a ticket, sources said. The by-election is significant as most likely it would be held before the polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, said a senior BJP leader. “If we lose, the AAP will use that to say the BJP has lost support on the ground in Delhi, and attribute it to the delaying of the MCD polls,” he said.

The BJP is upbeat about its chances as the last two by-elections have made the public apprehensive about candidates who vacate their seat, said another leader. “In Rajouri Garden bypolls, one of the main reasons the AAP lost was because their candidate, Jarnail Singh, quit and went to Punjab. In Bawana, the then AAP MLA Ved Parkash resigned and joined BJP, and fought on a BJP ticket in by-polls and lost,” he said.

A senior AAP leader said people are fed up with BJP’s “bulldozer politics” where poor people are being targeted, besides the price rise hurting the people.